Ten minutes later Sector Seven and Ed were standing in front of a small rock column with a chemistry set and a chalkboard nearby. Kokonoe was looking over her clipboard to check the experiment procedure. "Alright Ed, you said you like monster movies, right?"
"Yeah, with all my heart!" Ed cheered.
"Can you tell me some of the things that the monsters in the movies do?"
Ed put his hand to his chin in deep thought. "Um, they eat people, smash cities, fight other monsters, and destroy things with their atomic breath. Pretty cool, huh?"
Kokonoe smiled. "What if I told you we can show you how to make things like rocks and stuff melt like the monsters' breath?"
Ed went wide-eyed and smiled big. "We can do that!? That'll be funner than when I danced with Wilfred in Season 6!"
"Erm, yeah whatever. Moving on," Kokonoe directed everyone's attention to the chemistry set. She held up a small plastic vial of a colorless liquid. "See this Ed? This is called hydrofluoric acid. It can corrode a lot of shit, like that rock over there." She demonstrated by pouring a bit on the rock and melting some of it away.
"That's so cool! It's like what happened in "I Was A Teenage Chemistry Set," a classic," Ed remarked at the site of it. "Show me how to do this so I can melt stuff too!" He started making a grab for it but Tager and Lambda were holding him back.
"You must restrain yourself Ed," Tager warned. "Hydrofluoric acid can melt away your skin and poison you too."
That shut Ed up. He calmed down enough to let Sector Seven release their hold on him. Kokonoe led everyone to the chemistry set and brought out a few chemicals she had stashed underneath. She wrote a chemical equation on the blackboard. "Ever seen one of these?" Ed nodded. "Know how to do them?" Then he shook his head no. She sighed. "Lambda, you're up. Show nimrod here how to do a chemical equation."
Lambda took her place up front. "Understood. Initializing instructional program," she said emotionlessly. A few seconds later her ruby red eyes showed a little more emotion behind them and she gave an uncharacteristic small smile. "Now in instructor mode. Shall we begin Ed?" Ed smiled in anticipation. Lambda spent a few minutes showing Ed how to write the compound which he surprisingly picked up fast.
Lambda weighed out materials needed to synthesize the acid and then turned to Ed. "Ed, by combining sulfuric acid and mineral fluorite as seen on the board, you will make hydrofluoric acid and calcium sulfate. Please proceed." Ed did as he was told and put the materials in a galvanized metal container. He then stuck them on top of a giant 7-foot burner Kokonoe illegally made against Sector Seven's instructions. Tager turned on the burner.
"As soon as this burner hits 265 degrees celsius, you should see the acid come out of this tube here," Tager said while showing Ed the spout and the container the acid was going to go into.
"Cool! Will I gain the power to melt stuff if I touch it?" Ed asked enthusiastically. All of Sector Seven facepalmed.
A few minutes later the burner hit the required temperature and the acid started pouring out into the container. Ed was watching with glee over his new creation. Kokonoe wrote down the test results. "Hmm, 52% yield. Not the greatest result ever, but it's pretty good considering Ed was the one who did it," she observed. She made Ed put on rubber gloves and started to hand him the container. "Well, give it a try brainiac. See if you did it correctly," she instructed.
Ed poured the acid on the rock and within seconds the entire rock was completely dissolved. "Woah! Science is cool!" he exclaimed. "I can't wait to show Double Dee!"
Tager frowned. "I don't think you should be making this stuff on your own Ed," he said. "We're doing it now as an example and we're also professionals. This is a very dangerous chemical to work with." Ed didn't hear him, he was too busy musing over destroying the rock.
"Now that we covered chemical compounds, let's move on to electricity," Kokonoe said.
A few minutes the four of them were by the tesla coil Ed had put his hand in earlier. "So Ed, do you know who invented the tesla coil?" Tager asked.
"President Lincoln?" The rest sighed.
"Nikola Tesla, which is where the name comes from. Tesla invented the tesla, heh heh. The tesla coil produces a large field of electricity from a reactor using alternating currents. When you got shocked earlier, you experienced it on it's lowest setting, imagine what could happen if it was powered up all the way." Ed shuddered at the thought.
"This reminds me of when Double Dee's science fair project was wrecked back in the author's first fic," Ed noticed.
"That was because that bastard Terumi," Kokonoe retched just getting his name out. "Overpowered the accident by observing it. If he didn't do anything, it would have sparked a couple of times and then just made a lot of smoke. But NO, he had to go and MESS WITH SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE AND-" Tager shoved a silvervine candy into her mouth and she immediately began to relax. "Thanks Tager, I needed that."
"The coil is so strong it will light up fluorescent lights from 50 feet away," Lambda, still in instructor mode, mentioned. "Even ones that have been previously burned out."
Kokonoe, seeing the smile on Ed's face, was coming up with an idea. "So Ed, want to give it a try?" He nodded so hard his eyebrow came off, which he quickly put back on. The scientist handed him a remote control and showed him the controls. "Aim the coil at that light I have set up over there," she instructed while showing him the target. Ed aimed the machine, pressed the buttons, and the coil immediately lit it up.
"Oh boy oh boy oh boy!" Ed cheered. "With all of this science stuff, I can become a superhero! I can understand what Double Dee's saying! I can-"
"Woah, slow down there kid. Science is cool and all, but remember that someone as inexperienced as you could seriously hurt someone." Kokonoe looked at Tager. "Tager, show him what I mean."
Tager narrowed his eyes. "You aren't actually considering-"
"Yep," she cut him off. While the Red Devil got in place, Kokonoe turned back to Ed. "Listen Ed, this is gonna be painful for a second, but you'll be fine afterwards. I just need you to-"
"AAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHHH!" Ed screamed at the sound of him getting hurt. "Don't shock me and sell my organs on the Internet, please!" He started running around the place for a way out while the three of them gave chase. Lambda used her gravity seed and trapped Ed, who was still running in place.
"There is no need to fear Ed," Tager reassured. "I will not do any lethal harm to you, this is just to prove what can happen to the human body with too much electricity exposure. Please stand still and brace yourself." Ed was still trying to run, but the gravity seed kept him from going anywhere. Tager charged up his fists and aimed at Ed. "Spark Bolt!" he called out. A blast of electrical energy emulated from the Red Devil's hands and shot at Sector Seven's newest pupil. Ed lit up like a Christmas tree for a few seconds and then fell to the ground smoking.
"Hmph, never expected someone to smell like Jimmy Dean's after getting electrocuted, must be a first," Kokonoe joked. The three of them helped him up while his eyeballs were rolling in his sockets and his eyebrow looked like a vital sign. "So, whaddya think Ed?"
Ed was still dazed from the shock and sparked a couple of times, but came to his senses a few seconds later. "Woah, I think my brain stopped."
Lambda stepped up to explain. "That is because the human body can take up to a tenth of an ampere of electricity before death becomes imminent. I believe Tager has reduced the amount of electricity he projected into you to give you a personal experience." Tager nodded in confirmation.
Ed grinned. "Cool! Show me more stuff!"
Throughout the day, Sector Seven was showing Ed different scientific tools and procedures for him to try out and learn about. Turns out Ed couldn't learn anything in a book, but when it came to actually doing science in physical form, he was picking it up surprisingly fast. When learning about decibel levels Kokonoe gave him a bass similar to the one he used during Halloween. He kept increasing the bass level until he accidentally blew out the windows, but he got the message anyways. During a brief history lesson, Ed referred to Nikola Tesla as the "shock guy."
In the middle of another chemistry lesson, Kokonoe got the notification from Double Dee and Eddy and she let them in. The two got beamed into the room. "Man, I can't get used to that weird beaming trick," Eddy complained while rubbing the back of his neck. "Feels like my neck keeps getting rebuilt every time you do that."
"Well it's not like I regularly have visitors here either nimrod," Kokonoe shot back. She directed their attention to Ed, who was lighting other chemicals on fire and seeing what colors they burned and ogling the results. "All I'm going to say is you're gonna be really surprised with how he's doing. If an idiot like him can pick this stuff up, anyone can."
Eddy was dumbstruck and then began to fall on the ground laughing. "Ed? Learning? The only time I've seen those words in the same sentence is "Ed sucks at learning."" He stopped when he saw Kokonoe staring at him annoyed, a vein popping into her head. "Wait, you're actually telling me Lumpy gets this stuff?"
"Perhaps it would be beneficial for all of us to see if our efforts were successful or not," Double Dee suggested. The other two nodded in agreement. They walked over to Ed, who was still lighting stuff on fire.
Ed was holding two burning pieces of calcium in his hands and showed the guys. "Eddy! Double Dee!" he exclaimed. "Look, I'm a multicolored firebender!"
"Ed! You realize you're holding burning chemicals in your hands!?" Double Dee yelled, alarmed.
"Pssh, don't worry about burn-" Ed suddenly was aware of the burning in his skin. A second later, he got caught on fire. "AAAUUUGGGHHH!" he screamed while running around in circles.
Kokonoe cursed under her breath. "Lambda," she said. Lambda nodded and placed Ed under a shower meant for chemical mishaps. She doused him and put out the flames.
"Can we go home now Lumpy?" Eddy asked impatiently. Ed said yes and walked over to join his friends.
"Hey hold up, what do we get for helping him out?" Kokonoe complained.
"Um, thanks a lot for helping him glad you took the time, blah blah blah. Yeah, let's go."
Double Dee rolled his eyes. "I refuse to let a debt go unpaid, so I brough my Xi-14 suit for you all to experiment with and see if you can possibly make it functional," he said while getting it out via hammerspace. Kokonoe took it from him and inspected it.
She liked what she saw. "Maybe I can get in on the action myself once in awhile then too. You have a deal." On that note, the Eds opened a portal and headed home.
A week later, the boys had another science test, and while Double Dee was ready and Eddy was not as usual, Ed had actually studied and was pumped up for it.
"So Ed, are you ready to apply your studies today and see if they were at all meaningful?" Double Dee asked with delight.
Ed shrugged it off with a confident smile. "I can do this! Or my name isn't Luthor!" he said while pulling out his spatula via hammerspace.
"Save it for Halloween Monobrow," Eddy scoffed. "Let's get this over with already.
Five minutes later the written test began. Ed began to scan the questions carefully. 'Name the invention by Nikola Tesla that produces electrical discharge like a generator,' he read. He thought back to getting shocked back at the lab. He wrote down "Tesla coil." The whole test pretty much went like this; he remembers incidents back at the lab and in return he remembers the answers.
After that the physical test was next. Ed gathered some sulfuric acid and fluorite. Eddy looked over at him. "Ed, you're not just mixing random chemicals together, right?" he asked. Ed shook his head no and had a confident smile on his face. Eddy tugged on Double Dee's sleeve. "Hey Sock Head, might want to be ready to make a break for it. Ed's making something and I feel like he's going to blow this place to kingdom come."
"Oh come now Eddy, have some faith in Kokonoe's teachings," Double Dee said, trying to sound convincing but had an undertone of worry in his voice. Both kept their eyes trained on Ed the whole time, but were surprised that he was weighing out the components and actually knew how to operate the burner. Last time he used one, he nearly burned down the whole classroom roasting marshmallows over the flame. The boys were further surprised when he checked the temperature and set a timer.
"Um, Ed? Is that you?" Eddy asked. This was not the Ed him and Double Dee knew. The Ed they knew would have blown up the place within seconds of coming into contact with chemicals. Now they see an Ed who's actually doing measurements and correctly collecting his sample in the plastic beaker.
Double Dee walked over to see how Ed was doing. "My my Ed, it seems the professor has educated you far better than anyone, well done!" he congratulated. "Would you mind telling me what you made?"
Ed proudly revealed his compound. "I made something they showed me called hydrofluoric acid or something! Pretty cool huh?" He took his eyes off of his creation to see Double Dee's reaction, but it was one of terror. "Erm, Double Dee? I won't turn into Superman with this stuff, don't worry."
"Ed! Do you realize that will melt through almost anything here!?" he exclaimed. "You could get us all hurt!" He tried taking the vial away, but Ed wasn't giving it up. The beaker got hit up into the air and both were scrambling for it. Until it slipped through both of their hands and broke on the ground.
Both looked at each other. "Uh oh," they said in unison. The acid melted through the floor and revealed the classroom underneath.
Jonny looked up from his desk in the room below. "Hiya guys!" he said. "How the heck did you melt the ceiling?" The fire alarm sounded and everyone was evacuated.
The next day after class the Eds were patching up the hole in the ceiling. "Great, Ed actually learns something for once and we STILL get detention! Nice going Sock Head." Eddy muttered while getting more wood for a temporary patch.
"Well pardon me Eddy, but I was not informed of the subjects Sector Seven would be teaching," Double Dee shot back. "How would I know Ed would have the ability to produce such a dangerous compound?" He went back to nailing the wooden planks in. "Ed, could you please hand me more nails?" Nothing. "Ed?" Both of them looked over at Ed, who was still mooning over the surprising B he got.
Eddy hit him with a hammer, leaving a bump. "Wake up will ya? We gotta get this done and we can't do that if you're sitting there getting ready to propose to that piece of paper."
Ed looked sheepish. "But Eddy, I still get to watch monster movies now! I'm happy for this!"
Double Dee couldn't help but smile. "Though I'm not thrilled about the end result for all of us, I am pleased your determination helped you pass, well done! By the way, what else did Professor Kokonoe teach you if you don't mind my intrusion?"
Ed grinned. "She showed me different elements burn different colors! Here, let me show you!" He got up and got a piece of lithium from the chemical cabinet. "Watch, this calcium will become red!" He began to set it on fire.
Double Dee realized what was happening too late. "Wait, Ed! NO!" A second later, the whole room exploded. All three boys were scattered around the room and blackened from the explosion.
"Lesson learned: never ask Kokonoe for help with science again." Eddy grumbled
